Vancouver answers from a Vancouverite (part 2)

[Lulubelle45]

Waterfront station confuses me. On Google maps there appear to be several entrances. Which entrance to take from the cruise ship to go to yvr?

[Urban trekker]

I will try and answer this for you.

 

You want the main entrance on Cordova - inside the red brick building.

 

The entrance from both Waterfront Center and the one just up the ramp from the cruise deck lead you the wrong set of tracks.

 

Once inside the station you should see a set of stairs etc on your left and a sign indicating the Canada line. This is the one you want.

 

Some of the others who post here may have more clearer directions as when I use the Canada Line I board from a different station that is closer to my condo so I am doing this from memory.

 

Hope this helps

 

Cheers!

 

Dennis

[LuvCats!]

I'm looking into a short cruise out of Vancouver (RT) the end of September. I've come up with a few questions I'm hoping someone might be able to help me with. :)

 

We will be driving up from Portland. I'm trying to figure out if the best parking option is the one at Canada Place or if there are other places you'd recommend we go. We shouldn't have a ton of luggage so I'd be open to using public transportation if needed. I'd also consider going to a hotel for a stay and park type deal if transportation/cost was reasonable.

 

Right now we're planning to stay on the west end in walking distance of Stanley Park (supposed to be public parking nearby for CAD $10 per day but I don't know if this is accurate or not). I'm not sure if this parking would allow us to park for the cruise or not and if so whether it is close enough to the terminal.

 

The 4 day cost at Canada Place is CAD $92.00 so not too horrendous. Last question: If we did park there do we walk to the terminal or take a (I'd assume provided) shuttle? TIA for the assistance!

[Kamloops50]

How many days are you planning to cruise for? We usually stay at the Hampton near the airport. They have package that let's you park for 7 days with transfer to the pier with 1 nights stay. You have to call them for thus package.

 

Sent from my SGH-I317M using Forums mobile app

[Putterdude]

Sounds like you have done your homework and wish to be in the west end near to Stanley Park; that be the case then far be it from me to suggest the airport area or even downtown hotels that have stay, park and cruise packages.....if I wrong please come on back and we will suggest some downtown hotels or even a west end hotel. As for parking at Canada Place. If you are parking in the the parkade there, there is no shuttle required., you just take an elevator down to the cruise terminal, it's just as simple as that.

[LuvCats!]

Lol well I've done some (part in thanks to all of the great advice in the previous thread here when we did our Alaska cruise) but I'm not 100% set in any area. We will have flexibility (and a hindrance of course) having the car. Our hotel reservation can be cancelled. I guess I'm mainly looking to see if there are other options that work well (or even better) in our situation. At this point I'm really very flexible and open to options. Airport and/or downtown suggestions welcome too. Balancing both price and convenience. Price is the higher priority as long as walk/transportation isn't too long or involved.

 

Oops saw only the last post. I'll check out the Hampton too. We'll be coming Friday afternoon (day prior) and cruising out Saturday w/return on Tuesday (and sadly going straight home as much as I'd love to spend more time in Vancouver).

 

Thanks to both of you for the info! :)

Edited June 8, 2015 by LuvCats!

[Kamloops50]

We paid for the package about 140 Cdn. Reserved the shuttle back to the hotel for 30 Cdn. We got the 8am shuttle back to the hotel. We where on the road home by 8 30am. The Hampton includes breakfast and 24 hr tea , coffee or bottled water. We use it because the storage area is locked and patrolled at night. Many hotels and parking lots aren't locked behind a fence.

 

Sent from my SGH-I317M using Forums mobile app

[Putterdude]

You will likely find the Hampton out in Richmond and other YVR area hotels out there less expensive then downtown hotels. The trade off is the inconvenience and cost of commuting back and forth into the city to sightsee or to get to Canada Place and non of the hotels out there has a free shuttle to and from Canada Place as it is about a 30/35 min drive. Hotels in the downtown area that have a stay, park and cruise package include the Best Western-Downtown, the Executive Vintage Park and the Hampton on Robson. In the west end there is the Coast Plaza Hotel. The Accent Inns in Richmond and Burnaby also have a package but for 4 days I am not sure that is makes any sense but would be worth looking into.

[LuvCats!]

Thank you both! I'll check them out. I have a feeling I might be happier with one of those rather than piecing it all together. If we go to Stanley Park (which sounds beautiful) it would only be one trip there and back so I don't think staying further away would be too hard.

[chocokat96]

My husband and I are cruising north to Alaska on the Star Princess from Vancouver on September 5, 2015. This was a last minute plan, and I started a new job about 6 months ago, so unfortunately, we can only fly in very late the night before the cruise due to not having a ton of vacation time built up. I've got two questions for the pros:

 

1) If you were landing just before midnight, would you stay near the airport, or suck it up and get a cab downtown, knowing that hopefully the 3 hour time difference will work in our favor and we can get up very early and get half a day of sightseeing in on Saturday morning? We'll be staying in a Hilton family hotel because my husband has a ton of points from work travel, so cost isn't an issue. Looks like we can get a Hampton Inn downtown for just a bit more than a Hilton/Hampton Inn near the airport. Can you tell I'm leaning towards downtown? ;) I'm assuming cabs run all night?

 

2) If we stay downtown, what do you recommend for a morning of sightseeing before we head to Canada Place?

 

Thank you!

[martincath]

My husband and I are cruising north to Alaska on the Star Princess from Vancouver on September 5, 2015. This was a last minute plan, and I started a new job about 6 months ago, so unfortunately, we can only fly in very late the night before the cruise due to not having a ton of vacation time built up. I've got two questions for the pros:

 

1) If you were landing just before midnight, would you stay near the airport, or suck it up and get a cab downtown, knowing that hopefully the 3 hour time difference will work in our favor and we can get up very early and get half a day of sightseeing in on Saturday morning? We'll be staying in a Hilton family hotel because my husband has a ton of points from work travel, so cost isn't an issue. Looks like we can get a Hampton Inn downtown for just a bit more than a Hilton/Hampton Inn near the airport. Can you tell I'm leaning towards downtown? ;) I'm assuming cabs run all night?

 

2) If we stay downtown, what do you recommend for a morning of sightseeing before we head to Canada Place?

 

Thank you!

1) Definitely do downtown - unless you need to save money or plan to tour Richmond rather than Vancouver downtown is ALWAYS better. The Hampton is in a great location for walking into Yaletown, Chinatown, Gastown.

 

2) depends on the kind of stuff you, your hubster, and anyone else you're traveling with likes to do! Vancouver offers beautiful scenery in and around the city, including beaches, forests, and mountains; has a pretty good selection of museums & galleries on the High Culture end of the spectrum; excellent and varied food and local brewing options; a very popular aquarium and science centre on the more edumacational side of things; several areas of reasonably well-preserved historical-by-West-Coast-standards buildings; general and themed walking tours; bus tours; HOHO tours; you can walk, bike, or roller-blade around all or part of the Seawall or hire power boats or kayaks or paddleboards to see it from the wate ... if you're willing to provide more info on how much you're willing to spend, how far you're willing to walk, and what kind of things you love/hate I have no doubt you'll get some targeted suggestions from us locals - otherwise, Tripadvisor is much more efficient if all you need is a general overview of 'what kind of stuff to most people like'

[Putterdude]

My husband and I are cruising north to Alaska on the Star Princess from Vancouver on September 5, 2015. This was a last minute plan, and I started a new job about 6 months ago, so unfortunately, we can only fly in very late the night before the cruise due to not having a ton of vacation time built up. I've got two questions for the pros:

 

1) If you were landing just before midnight, would you stay near the airport, or suck it up and get a cab downtown, knowing that hopefully the 3 hour time difference will work in our favor and we can get up very early and get half a day of sightseeing in on Saturday morning? We'll be staying in a Hilton family hotel because my husband has a ton of points from work travel, so cost isn't an issue. Looks like we can get a Hampton Inn downtown for just a bit more than a Hilton/Hampton Inn near the airport. Can you tell I'm leaning towards downtown? ;) I'm assuming cabs run all night?

 

2) If we stay downtown, what do you recommend for a morning of sightseeing before we head to Canada Place?

 

Thank you!

 

I would be very inclined to stay at the Hampton Inn downtown for the convenience of being close in to the sights of Vancouver. Unfortunately your 3 hr time difference wont do much for you as things really don't get going in Vancouver until 9 am local time unless you want to head for Stanley Park for a couple of hours then head back to the Hampton, get your luggage then check it with a porter at Canada Place, they will normally start accepting luggage about 9:30 and maybe even a tad earlier. You could then take a walk into historic Gastown, perhaps take a ride up the Vancouver Lookout or ride the SeaBus from Waterfront Station to Lonsdale Quay and back, on a nice day its a delightful trip across the harbour and back. If you wish you could spend a little time in the Lonsdale Quay Market. While I tend to be a huge fan of HOHOs, they don't begin until 9 am so unless you want a $42 pp for a tour around the city I am not sure that they are the best investment for time you have to tour....however, I must say that the Vancouver Trolley's inclusive tour around Stanley Park has a lot of appeal. http://www.vancouvertrolley.com/

[xlxo]

Hmm... landing around midnight before a cruise?

• the airport and cruise terminal is only 30 minutes away..... makes little difference staying downtown or by the airport locations.
  
• I value my sleep more than sightseeing with such little time pre-cruise.
  
• Yes cabs do run 24 hours.
  

[vinmin]

Hi

I have just found the vancouver forum, I have a few questions hope you guys can help me.

We will be there on the 26thJune and boarding Noordam on the 27th June.

Arriving at about 10. We should be at the Sheraton Wall hotel by 12.30 ? would that be correct?

Our plan for the day is if the weather is nice to go to Capilano bridge by about 2pm using the free shuttle..return by the shuttle.

On Saturday the day we board we thought of going to Stanley park early in the morning and try and go on the tourguys 11am Gastown trip.

I clicked on the shuttle link put earlier in the thread but it says Stanley park shuttle is not working? Am i looking at the wrong place?

However if the weather is not good on Friday can we do Capilano on Saturday before boarding?

 

On one of the other forum on CC i asked about a chinese restaurant that served some vegetarian food. One was recommended but i did not note it down it began with H i think (i checked the menu it looked ok for us) near Robinson st.

If anyone can help it would be great.

Thanks

Vin

[xlxo]

That would be Hon's on Robson...

http://www.hons.ca/

[vinmin]

That would be Hon's on Robson...

http://www.hons.ca/

Thanks xixo

I have made a note of it. Any help on the other questions would be great.

Vin

[martincath]

Hi

I have just found the vancouver forum, I have a few questions hope you guys can help me.

We will be there on the 26thJune and boarding Noordam on the 27th June.

Arriving at about 10. We should be at the Sheraton Wall hotel by 12.30 ? would that be correct?

Unless you get very unlucky with customs/immigration, you should be through and en route to your hotel within less than an hour - since travel is about a half hour regardless of method, assume you'll be at your hotel about 90mins after you arrive at the gate.

 

Our plan for the day is if the weather is nice to go to Capilano bridge by about 2pm using the free shuttle..return by the shuttle.

On Saturday the day we board we thought of going to Stanley park early in the morning and try and go on the tourguys 11am Gastown trip.

I clicked on the shuttle link put earlier in the thread but it says Stanley park shuttle is not working? Am i looking at the wrong place?

You're in the right spot - the website changed in the last few days I guess. The shuttle ended up not running at all during the summer one or two years ago - unless it changes back to giving a start date, assume no shuttle and make alternate arrangements for the park (rent bikes, walk, take expensive carriage ride) but even if it does return this summer, you won't be able to use it if you stick to your suggested timings as it doesn't start until 11am.

 

However if the weather is not good on Friday can we do Capilano on Saturday before boarding?

You should be OK to - first free shuttle at 9am, say 90 mins total traveling there & back, two hours in park, you can still be back at the pier before 1pm giving time for lunch before boarding.

 

On one of the other forum on CC i asked about a chinese restaurant that served some vegetarian food. One was recommended but i did not note it down it began with H i think (i checked the menu it looked ok for us) near Robinson st.

That would be Hons on Robson Street. Walking map from your hotel here.

 

If anyone can help it would be great.

Thanks

Vin

Answers in red.

Edited June 11, 2015 by martincath

[vinmin]

Answers in red.

 

Thank you martincath that was very helpful. A pity that the shuttle is not working. We can go by Taxi to Stanley park, i guess we will have to walk back i guess.

 

Vin

[martincath]

Thank you martincath that was very helpful. A pity that the shuttle is not working. We can go by Taxi to Stanley park, i guess we will have to walk back i guess.

 

Vin

Since your time is rather limited, I would suggest making use of public transit or cabs to get to & from Stanley Park is a very good idea. If the budget isn't a problem, you could just pay a cabbie to run your around a couple of the key park stops - I'd suggest at the least that you have them drop you at the Totem Poles or Prospect Point on the way in, which are both places you definitely want to see.

 

Rose Garden is probably the next biggest hit which is basically right next to a road, and then one of the English Bay side areas like the beaches so you can appreciate the very different views from the park looking West vs. North. You might find cabs hanging around near the park entrance waiting for pickups on a summer Saturday morning, but I'll list bus options in case you don't and do not want to call one and wait.

 

Bus 19 goes along Georgia & Pender and stops inside the park, very close to the Pavilion (there's a bus loop, so you can also come back here to leave the park). Buses 22 or 44 go right past your hotel on Burrard and cross the 19 route at Pender, so the transfer just involves crossing the intersection.

 

Getting back in time for your tour would be the key element, so I've chosen 'arrive by 10:45am' on this Google map - the 19 bus leaving at 10:24am on Sat 27th will get you there in time; I assume that a walking tour after wandering the park means you won't object to a 500 yard walk from the nearest 19 stop... if you do, get off at Denman outside the park instead and get on the next 250, which goes right past the Art Gallery on Georgia (it should be the second option on that Google page).

 

Transit fare is $2.75 cash (buses do want exact change, but you can pay for multiple tickets so if you're a couple keep a $5 bill and a couple of quarters in a pocket). Cabs are metered - from your hotel into the park should be about $10, but once inside the speed limit is very low so driving about in the park will quickly add cost; to Prospect Point or the Totem Poles expect another $5 worth of travel, plus of course wait time if you have the cabbie hang around for you.

 

Getting back from your tour to the hotel to get your bags is quite conveniently done on the 50 bus - route here - or a c. $10 cab fare again. To Canada Place with suitcases don't even think about bussing it - suitcases and buses are not a viable combination - take a cab or walk if you still feel the need for more exercise!

[jrkfrk]

We arrive in Vancouver around 1 in the afternoon. Our plan is to check into our hotel (Hotel Le Soliel), drop off our bags and go to Granville Island - spend a few hours there and then go to an early dinner at the Peaceful Restaurant. How should we best get from one place to another and does this sound like a feasible plan? Any suggestions would be appreciated!

 

frk

[martincath]

We arrive in Vancouver around 1 in the afternoon. Our plan is to check into our hotel (Hotel Le Soliel), drop off our bags and go to Granville Island - spend a few hours there and then go to an early dinner at the Peaceful Restaurant. How should we best get from one place to another and does this sound like a feasible plan? Any suggestions would be appreciated!

 

frk

The 50 bus is the easiest public transit method (you can add your exact date in to Google, as service levels do vary on weekends/holidays). About 20 minutes, depending where on GI you first walk to.

 

More fun IMO are the little ferries that ply False Creek - click the pedestrian icon on the above map and it'll show you the (very simple) walking route, a straight shot down Hornby then over on the Aquabus (cash fare $3.50).

 

From GI direct to Peaceful there are a couple of bus options, but I would recommend the 50 again as it takes you up the very steep hill - the 84 involves you getting off at the bottom.

 

Back to the hotel, Skytrain is hands-down the best way. Both bus and Skytrain use the same transit tickets, good for 90minutes travel, $2.75 cash fare ($1.75 if you are over 65). A Daypass at $9.75/$7.50 Senior is more expensive, but saves the hassle of exact fare on buses so could be worthwhile.

 

Taxis are plentiful on GI, it's a very popular spot - expect to pay c.$10-12 on the meter to Peaceful. From or to your hotel ask the hotel or resto to call you one; ballpark $15 back to hotel; a couple of bucks more to GI from the hotel as cabs need to make a large loop to get down to GI after crossing the bridge.

Edited June 11, 2015 by martincath
correcting direction on bus route

[jrkfrk]

Thank you, thank you , thank you!

 

frk

[vinmin]

Since your time is rather limited, I would suggest making use of public transit or cabs to get to & from Stanley Park is a very good idea. If the budget isn't a problem, you could just pay a cabbie to run your around a couple of the key park stops - I'd suggest at the least that you have them drop you at the Totem Poles or Prospect Point on the way in, which are both places you definitely want to see.

 

Rose Garden is probably the next biggest hit which is basically right next to a road, and then one of the English Bay side areas like the beaches so you can appreciate the very different views from the park looking West vs. North. You might find cabs hanging around near the park entrance waiting for pickups on a summer Saturday morning, but I'll list bus options in case you don't and do not want to call one and wait.

 

Bus 19 goes along Georgia & Pender and stops inside the park, very close to the Pavilion (there's a bus loop, so you can also come back here to leave the park). Buses 22 or 44 go right past your hotel on Burrard and cross the 19 route at Pender, so the transfer just involves crossing the intersection.

 

Getting back in time for your tour would be the key element, so I've chosen 'arrive by 10:45am' on this Google map - the 19 bus leaving at 10:24am on Sat 27th will get you there in time; I assume that a walking tour after wandering the park means you won't object to a 500 yard walk from the nearest 19 stop... if you do, get off at Denman outside the park instead and get on the next 250, which goes right past the Art Gallery on Georgia (it should be the second option on that Google page).

 

Transit fare is $2.75 cash (buses do want exact change, but you can pay for multiple tickets so if you're a couple keep a $5 bill and a couple of quarters in a pocket). Cabs are metered - from your hotel into the park should be about $10, but once inside the speed limit is very low so driving about in the park will quickly add cost; to Prospect Point or the Totem Poles expect another $5 worth of travel, plus of course wait time if you have the cabbie hang around for you.

 

Getting back from your tour to the hotel to get your bags is quite conveniently done on the 50 bus - route here - or a c. $10 cab fare again. To Canada Place with suitcases don't even think about bussing it - suitcases and buses are not a viable combination - take a cab or walk if you still feel the need for more exercise!

 

Martincath i cant thank you enough for such a detailed answer. I think we will cab it to the two points Totem poles and Prospect point recommended by you. It will all depend on Teen boy how quickly he wakes up and we get away to the park. Its not long to go now we are looking forward to it. Thank you for taking time to reply once again.

Vin

[Anyislandwilldo]

Hello, to save myself some time I thought I would post my questions here rather than read through 5000+ posts. OMG

 

Here goes...

 

We will be docking after a cruise and would like to spend the day and night in Vancouver before flying home the next morning. So we will have our luggage with us after the cruise and more than likely will not be able to check into a hotel until later in the afternoon. Should we first go to a hotel and have them hold our luggage and then get out and see the city or are there other options? I really like the idea of the hop on hop off bus but what to do with the luggage?? The hop on hop off has all the attractions I would like to see. Stanley Park, Gastown, Chinatown, Granville Island. Would like to avoid renting a car if we can.

 

Also what would you recommendation be for the best, safest, reasonable priced hotel near the airport.

 

Thank you so much in advance.

[martincath]

Hello, to save myself some time I thought I would post my questions here rather than read through 5000+ posts. OMG

 

Here goes...

 

We will be docking after a cruise and would like to spend the day and night in Vancouver before flying home the next morning. So we will have our luggage with us after the cruise and more than likely will not be able to check into a hotel until later in the afternoon. Should we first go to a hotel and have them hold our luggage and then get out and see the city or are there other options? I really like the idea of the hop on hop off bus but what to do with the luggage?? The hop on hop off has all the attractions I would like to see. Stanley Park, Gastown, Chinatown, Granville Island. Would like to avoid renting a car if we can.

 

Also what would you recommendation be for the best, safest, reasonable priced hotel near the airport.

 

Thank you so much in advance.

While reading through thousands of posts is a real hassle, Search (especially the Advanced version) does work pretty well - practise using it as it will be of long-term benefit for these types of commonly-answered questions.

 

But basically you've hit the nail on the head - offering an up-front tip to bell staff at Pan Pacific, Fairmont Waterfront right by Canada Place is probably the most convenient way to have your bags looked after if you want to stay downtown all day.

 

But there is another, even more convenient way to deal with them if you're going to stay at YVR - ask Priority Baggage to send them to YVR for you. $40 for up to 4 bags, $10 per extra bag, and you can collect them at their YVR storage area until late at night (at least 11pm).

 

The real advantage to this is that you can take Skytrain without any luggage worries and save a lot on getting to your hotel - all the hotels near YVR offer a free shuttle, so you will only have to pay $2.75pp to get to YVR for your bags, then jump on the hotel shuttle.

 

There are no UNsafe hotels near the airport - pick whichever gives you the best rate/points if all you need is a bed for the night. All the major chains, from Days Inn to Sheraton, are available - personally I like Hamptons and the one by YVR is close and well-reviewed on Tripadvisor, Expedia etc.